"Don't worry, little friend. Since I've agreed, I'll naturally follow through."
Yao Tianhuo gazed at the two dark-silver puppets that had suddenly appeared beside Yan Qingshan. The scorpion demon puppet, in particular, made him feel a subtle sense of danger. This straightened him up and dispelled any small surge of arrogance he had just felt, so he naturally wasn't going to have any second thoughts.
Yan Qingshan nodded with a smile. "In that case, let's leave this place!"
"Okay!"
The Venerable Tianhuo shifted his hand sign. The white storage ring in his hand automatically slipped onto Yan Qingshan's finger. His faint form, along with his jade-like skeleton, then flickered and entered the ring. A faint ripple of energy spread from the ring, and the spatial barrier slowly cracked open.
Yan Qingshan transformed into a streak of green light, shooting out like lightning. The faint spatial energy from the white storage ring spread out, solidifying and isolating the surrounding magma, causing very little disturbance and preventing the nearby Fire Lizard Tribe from being alerted.
Just as Yan Qingshan left the barrier, the faint spatial fluctuation caught the attention of another being. At the bottom of the unfathomably deep, crimson magma world, two light beams several yards wide slowly opened, like a pair of eyes.
"My blood..."
Yan Qingshan suddenly felt his blood boiling, followed by a heart-pounding sense of danger. He had originally considered lingering a little longer to collect some fire beads from the Fire Lizards, but that thought vanished instantly, and he now fled upwards with all his might.
"Elder Yao, please lend me a hand!"
Yan Qingshan spoke urgently. Although the Venerable Tianhuo didn't understand the reason, he still used his spatial energy to help him speed up. With his assistance, Yan Qingshan broke through the magma and returned to the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower at the fastest possible speed.
"Roar..."
In the distant depths of the magma, a furious roar created countless ripples, causing the entire underground magma world to boil. Countless Fire Lizards living there fled quickly, but many were still caught and lost their lives forever.
Boom…
A figure with green flames broke through the magma and emerged onto the surface, flashing directly to the ground at the base of the tower. Immediately after, the magma behind him erupted violently, with magma columns shooting upwards and exploding into the sky.
"Oh my god, what is that thing down there...? How do you know, kid…"
The Venerable Tianhuo, standing beside Yan Qingshan, couldn't help but exclaim in shock. He looked behind him, and a look of undeniable fear appeared on his face.
"Although I don't know what's down there, at the moment my physical body was destroyed, I could vaguely sense a terrifying presence there..."
The Venerable Tianhuo took a deep breath, waved his hand, and said slowly, "That being hasn't made a single move in all these years, but just now, it caused such a horrifying commotion. Could it be that you, kid, have some kind of grudge with it...?"
"You're overthinking it, Elder. I have no grudge with the one below. Entanglement, yes, but it's a good thing. Still, it's strange. It didn't react at first, so why did it in the end..."
Yan Qingshan was also a little puzzled. He, of course, knew what that being below was: the Dragon Emperor Zhu Kun, the patriarch of the Ancient Dragon Tribe. He was a peak-stage Half-Saint and the strongest existence in the world, even slightly superior to Gu Yuan and Hun Tiandi.
The Dragon Emperor Zhu Kun had a volatile and impulsive personality, otherwise, he wouldn't have been trapped by the Ancient God Tou She's restriction. In the original story, when he recognized Xiao Yan's phoenix-dragon blood, he immediately attacked without asking for a reason. If he hadn't been confined by the restriction, he would have taken Xiao Yan's life.
Yan Qingshan had refined Zi Yan's blood to cultivate his techniques and Dou skills. It made sense that Zhu Kun would be enraged upon discovering this and attack. However, what puzzled Yan Qingshan was that there was no abnormality when he first entered the magma.
"Whatever, whatever. That old man is trapped down there and can't get out anyway. As long as I don't get close to that magma area for now, I'll be fine."
Yan Qingshan didn't dwell too much on the issue of the Dragon Emperor Zhu Kun. After all, the old dragon was trapped below and couldn't come up, so there was no need for him to go searching for answers.
"Elder Yao, we don't need to worry about that for now. The key issue is our agreement."
Yan Qingshan reminded Yao Tianhuo, who was still warily staring at the magma. The Venerable Tianhuo snapped out of it at the sound of his voice and followed the direction of his finger to see the Fallen Heart Flame trapped within the seal.
"Roar~~~"
The Fallen Heart Flame reacted violently after Yan Qingshan reappeared, becoming particularly agitated when it saw Yao Tianhuo and the other Fallen Heart Flame.
The Venerable Tianhuo was its previous owner. Its conflict with the other heavenly flame was the direct cause of its master's death, and all of this was deeply imprinted in its memory.
Even more critically, the Venerable Tianhuo had released it just before he died, so its feelings for its former master were incredibly complex.
The Venerable Tianhuo gazed at the restless Fallen Heart Flame. He floated over and sighed, "So, you've been sealed all these years."
He slowly extended a hand. Strangely, the agitated Fallen Heart Flame initially opened its "jaws" as if to threaten him, then it voluntarily shrank and flew towards the Venerable Tianhuo.
The Venerable Tianhuo's palm passed through the restriction of the seal. The Fallen Heart Flame, like an invisible long serpent, coiled and lingered on his hand, appearing incredibly docile.
"Kid, why do you want this Fallen Heart Flame?"
The Venerable Tianhuo turned his head to look at Yan Qingshan. "If I'm not mistaken, you already possess a heavenly flame. One person cannot contain two different heavenly flames; I am a prime example of that."
He lowered his head and looked at the fire serpent coiled in his palm, his eyes filled with nostalgia. "When I first came here, I discovered the Fallen Heart Flame's whereabouts. I then spent several years to fortunately subdue it. It's the one I'm holding now.
After subduing it, I didn't leave immediately. Instead, out of curiosity, I delved deeper into this magma world, where I discovered another Fallen Heart Flame seed.
This discovery filled me with great joy. People generally know that two different heavenly flames cannot merge, but I thought at the time that since these two flames were of the same kind, one weak and one strong, I could make one the primary and the other the secondary, allowing the strong one to devour the weak one to become even more powerful.
I was confident in my flame-control ability and greedily wanted to absorb the other Fallen Heart Flame seed. As a result, the two flames, rather than merging perfectly inside my body, repelled each other like enemies, using my body as their battleground.
That battle between heavenly flames severely wounded me and led to my current predicament. This is a lesson from the past. I hope you think it through carefully."
Yan Qingshan smiled and said, "Elder Yao, I've thought it through. Don't worry, I won't recklessly introduce two heavenly flames into my body at once. Please, give it to me!"
"Fine. Since you've already made up your mind, there's nothing more this old man can say."
The Venerable Tianhuo played with the Fallen Heart Flame, sighing with a hint of melancholy. With a flick of his finger, the Fallen Heart Flame transformed into a fire serpent and shot towards Yan Qingshan.
The white storage ring on Yan Qingshan's hand flashed, and this Fallen Heart Flame, which had caused so much trouble in the inner academy, obediently went inside without a single ripple of energy.
Yan Qingshan put the ring back and nodded with satisfaction. He then looked towards the Venerable Tianhuo's shoulder, or more precisely, at the other young Fallen Heart Flame.
"What's this? You've got quite the appetite, kid, are you eyeing this one, too...? That's not impossible, as long as you agree to a few more of my conditions..."
The Venerable Tianhuo chuckled and moved his shoulder. The Fallen Heart Flame danced on his shoulder like a small ball.
"Elder Yao, you want me to help you refine a body for your revival, right?"
Yan Qingshan smiled confidently. With a flash of his ring, a scroll appeared in his palm. He then shook it, sending it flying towards the Venerable Tianhuo.
"This... you actually... you really have it..."
After examining the information on the scroll, the Venerable Tianhuo was overjoyed, astonished by Yan Qingshan's preparedness. It was an incredible coincidence!
"However, the three conditions listed here—several heavenly flames, a seventh-grade pill, and a seventh-tier magical beast's essence blood—these are quite difficult!"
The Venerable Tianhuo muttered, his brows deeply furrowed. This method for refining a body was perfect, but the conditions were extremely demanding.
A specific seventh-grade pill required the help of a seventh-grade alchemist. The essence blood of a seventh-tier magical beast was not just precious—if word got out, it would lead to a deadly pursuit by the magical beast clan.
The most critical condition was the first one: refining it with several heavenly flames in succession. This was truly difficult. One heavenly flame was already rare enough, but using more than one required a single person to refine them. Only a powerful Dou Saint could manage to suppress and merge several heavenly flames.
In the Dou Qi Continent, aside from the Terminal Blaze technique—a bug-level cultivation method—there were other ways to possess more than one heavenly flame. For example, the patriarch of the Yan Clan used his superb flame-control skills to merge the Nine Serene Golden Ancestor Flame and the Fire Mountain Rock Flame into a new, more powerful flame.
And there was Xiao Yan's ancestor, Xiao Xuan, who used his immense power to forcibly suppress three heavenly flames to create the Skyfire Three Mysterious Change technique. But what was Xiao Xuan's strength? He was a Half-Saint! For someone of that level, refining a body was a simple matter.
Yan Qingshan seriously suspected that Yao Lao had always been "obsessed" with the Terminal Blaze (Flame Mantra) technique. That was why both the method for refining the poison pill and the method for refining a body required several heavenly flames. It was simply insane.
"You don't need to worry about that, Elder Yao."
A wisp of green flame rose from Yan Qingshan's palm. He then took out a jade bottle containing a mysterious, ice-cold white mist.
The Venerable Tianhuo looked at the two items in Yan Qingshan's hands. "Pure green in color, with lotus patterns—this is the Green Lotus Core Flame. Snow white, misty, and alternating between hot and cold—a sub-flame of the Bone Chilling Flame.
Although this sub-flame isn't strong and can only be used a few times, it should be enough for refining a body. The number of heavenly flames is just enough, but it still doesn't solve the problem of merging them, does it?"